Car-brake



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.) G. F. BRAND-AU.

GARBRAKE I ,No. 513

Patented Jan; 23, 1894..

(No Model.) w 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. G. F. BRAN'DAU.

UAR BRAKE.

No. 513,298. Patented Jan. 23, 1894.

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UNITED STATES.

PATENT @FFICE.

GEORGE FRIEDERICH BRANDAU, OF COHOES, NEW YORK.

CAR-BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 513,298, dated January 23, 1894. Application filed November 9, 1893. Serial No. 490,443. (No model.)

reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The use of motors, such as electric motors on street cars, which move the latter at a co mparatively rapid speed, and which by reason of the weight of the motor add so to the m0- mentum of the car, renders the ordinaryhand operating brakes inadequate to stop the car in a short distance, a thing obviously of great importance as involving the safety of life and limb. It has accordingly been the aim of my invention to produce a brake which in respect to its effective application for stopping pur-.

poses in emergencies, shall be automatic, and shall utilize the momentum of the car itself to provide the braking power,so that a stop can be efiected promptly and in a short distance.

A further object is the provision of such a construction as shall enable the braking under ordinary conditions to be applied in the usual way by handoperated means.

To these ends and to such others as the invention may pertain the same consists in the construction hereinafter specified, andclaimed. I

In the drawings, Figure 1, is a side view of street car provided with my brake; Fig. 2 a bottom view of one set of the brake mechanisms 5 Fig. 3 a perspective view of the mechanism on the platforms, and Fig. 4 a like view of one of the shoes.

The car A may be of any usual construction mounted upon a frame B supported by four carrying wheels G arranged a pair at each end of the car. As the car shown is one adapted to travel back and forth without being turned around, it is equipped with two duplicate sets of brake mechanism one of which is to be operated from one end of the car and the other O is a transverse shaft D, lying parallel with the wheel axles, and carrying at each end a shoe E that occupies a plane in line'with the wheel 0 at such end of the shaft. Said shoe is practically quadrant shaped, having a curved face 6 that is adapted to be placed in contact with the car track, in the manner to appear,and having diametrically opposite said face a cam e that by engagement withablock f on a brake block suspending rod F is adapted to force the brake block f into contact with the tread of the wheel 0. The rod F is pivoted to stand at an angle as shown so 'thatits normal tendency by reason of gravity will be away from the wheel 0. The two shafts D, D, are connected so that they will move together, by two rods or bars G running from disks H, H, on one shaft to like disks on the other, their connection with said disks being eccentric as shown. Upon the shaft nearer the car end is a disk I that is connected by rod J to a bevel gear K, said rod being likewise eccentrically connected to said disk and bevel gear and the latter being journaled and supported by a bracket 10 secured to the car platform. Abeveled gear L on a vertical shaft M meshes with the gear K, said shaft being placed close to the dash board and having at its upper end an operating crank handle 177..

On the upper face of the gear L I provide a semi-circle of ratchet teeth Zadapted for cooperation with a pawl N whose releasing means consist of a short vertical rod n that passes up through the platform in convenient reach of the foot of the motor man and which is encircled by a coiled spring n that acts to normally engage the pawl with the ratchet teeth 1. Above the wheel L there is a disk 0 upon the shaft M which also has a semi-circle of ratchet teeth 0, but arranged the reverse of the teeth Z and with which a pawl P is designed to co-operate.

Under ordinary conditions, the shoes E will be kept above the car track by means of the,

pawl N engaging the teeth Z and rotation of the shaft M (which so long as'the pawl Z is free to engage said teeth, can be only in one direction), will through rod J, disks H H and rods 1, I cause the cams e e on said shoes to press the blocks f into engagement with the wheels C. Should a quick, or an emergency stop, be desired, the pawl N is raised out of the path of the teeth Z whereupon by reason of their weight the shoes E will swing down into engaging faces of the shoes E are formed of rub-V gagement with the car tracks and also against the brake blocks f and by the friction against said tracks be forced against said blocks and in turn crowd the latter against the wheels. The release of the brakes when thus applied is effected by rotating the crank shaft M in direction necessary to apply the brakes by means of the cams e on the shoes.

Of course it will be seen that the braking eifect is produced both by the friction of the shoes E upon the tracks as well as by the foreing of the blocks f against the wheels.

Both the track engaging and the block enber or like material consisting of blocks 6 seated in casings e that are placed in cavities e in the shoes against the sides of which casings screws e impinge to lock the same in place. WV hen desired the blocks Q can be adjusted by this construction to compensate for wear and vary their pressure.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim to be new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a car brake, a swinging brake shoe normally held away from the track and having a cam portion and adapted, when released, to fall by gravity into contact with a car track, as set forth.

2. In a carbrake, a swinging brake shoe normally held away from the track and having a cam portion and adapted, when released, to fall by gravity into contact with a car-track, combined with mechanism for normally hold in g said shoe away from the track, as set forth.

3. In a car brake, the combination with a pivotally supported brake block, of a swinging shoe adapted to fall by gravity into contact with a car track and having cam portion to engage said block to force it into engagement with a car wheel, as set forth.

4. In combination two transverse shafts carrying each two shoes, the rods connecting them, the crank shaft and connections be tween the latter and one of the other shafts.

5. In combination with a double acting brake mechanism the crank shaft and the two sets of reversely acting pawl and ratchet devices.

G. A brake shoe having a cavity, combined with a casing adjustably seated in said cavity an elastic block seated in said casing, and screws for adjustably connecting the parts, substantiallyas shown and described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE FRIEDERICII BRANDAU.

W'itnesses:

WILLIAM H. GRIFFITH, JAMES WALLACE. 

